The assertion that only religious-Zionists object to the
uprooting/transfer plan is about to be bashed in a big way, with a
large anti-disengagement event to be held by secular Galilee pioneers.

Moshav Nahalal in the Galilee, one of the most prominent of the
secular moshav movement, will host the first of a series of
gatherings protesting Prime Minister Sharon´s expulsion plan. The
plan calls for Israel to unilaterally withdraw all its forces, its
8,500 citizens and their homes from Gush Katif and northern Shomron
this summer.

The gathering at Nahalal is scheduled to take place on Monday, Feb.
14, and will signal the solidarity of the veteran workers´ settlement
movement with the newer settlers. "We won´t leave the Gush Katif
pioneers alone in the field," they say. "Their struggle is our
struggle."

The announcement of the gathering states, "This is our historic land.
Our enemies who waged war on us since the beginning of Zionism will
not be satisfied with one piece of land or another. Their ultimate
goal is to uproot and banish us from the entire Land."

"We know about the plans being cooked-up in smoke-filled room calling
to abandon and expel the residents of the Jordan Valley and Golan as
well. Far from the spotlights, an international border crossing is
being built in the northern Jordan Valley near Mehola – and this is
clear proof of the dark storm about to come upon the Zionist
enterprise.

The statement notes that supporters are expected "from all over the
country, from a range of the pioneer settlement movements that
effected the miracle of the Zionist revival of the nation returning
to its land." The organizers "call on everyone with a human and
national conscience to come and sound the rational voice of Zionism,
nationalism and settlement, against the attempt to illegally and
unethically uproot and destroy the Katif bloc and northern Samaria."

One of the organizers, Beit She´an valley Kibbutz member Yoav Toviah,
told Arutz-7 last night, "This is not an official gathering, but
rather of individual members of the settlement movement here. Let´s
not kid ourselves: most kibbutz members – I don´t know about the
moshavim – are in favor of the disengagement. But there are some,
like myself, who oppose it." He said that among the organizers are
some who have long considered themselves "Land of Israel people," as
well as those "who have recently come to the conclusion that this
process is both a blow to democracy and a needless destruction of a
settlement enterprise in the Land of Israel."

Asked if their support would translate into active opposition in Gush
Katif/Northern Shomron itself during the evacuation if it occurs,
Toviah said, "I can´t speak for others, but I can tell you that
already 2-3 weeks ago I sent a fax saying that I would be there on
that day."

The organizers´ announcement quotes the speech of Simon the Maccabee
to Syrian-Greek King Antiochus over 2,100 years ago, in which he
said, "Not a foreign land did we take, and not over the property of
foreigners did we rule – but the inheritance of our forefathers that
was captured illegally and that is in the hands of our enemies. And
when the opportunity arose, we restored our forefathers´ inheritance."

The statement, phrases of which sounded like they were taken from the
National Union party platform, continued, "Facing obtuse powers of
evil, facing people with no Zionist or settlement values, and facing
a mad dictator who is dragging the country to a civil war – we will
establish anew the scale of Zionist and settlement values that built
the State of Israel, the national home of the Jewish People."

The statement also refers to the democratic values that were trampled
along the way to disengagement: "The nation has already decided three
times in favor of keeping hold of Gush Katif: once when the nation
overwhelmingly elected Sharon because he said that Netzarim would be
like Tel Aviv, while Mitzna, who called for uprooting and
destruction, lost." The second time was in the Likud referendum,
which gave a large victory to the anti-disengagement camp and which
Sharon promised to adhere to but did not. The final instance was the
Cabinet decision, when "not only several Likud ministers betrayed
their party membership´s decision, but Sharon stabbed Israel´s
democracy in the heart when he created an artificial majority by
firing two ministers on the eve of the vote. Who needs a government
anyway, if you can just fire ministers before the vote and attain any
majority you want."